The Rules
by itslivinginallofus
Summary: HarperxAlex, AlexxHarper, Halex; Femslash; A new take on the "Baby Cupid" episode that has Harper and Alex discovering and fumbling over the rules that come with their newfound and complicated relationship.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. This fic is my take on the "Baby Cupid" episode, which, if Disney belonged to me, would be queerer than a 3 dollar bill. **

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: My first Harper/Alex! Yay! I hope you enjoy, I'm excited to try my hand at this pairing. By the way, I was confused when I saw that on TV dot com, Harper's last name is listed as Evans, yet in the "Harper Knows" episode, they say it's Finkle, so I went with that because I don't recall them ever saying Evans on the show. Anyway… please review as you feel compelled! Reviews make me wicked happy (and likely inspire quicker updates!)**

"I feel like I'm dreaming," Alex said through a smile before leaning in to steal another kiss from Harper's lips.

A matching smile and blushed cheeks graced Harper's face. "I feel like I'm dreaming, too," she said. "Unless…. I _am _dreaming. And then I wouldn't really know, and you wouldn't either, because you'd be in the dream - Ow! What was that for?" Harper questioned, examining the red patch of skin on her forearm that Alex just released from her grip.

"Looks like you're not dreaming. Yay!" Alex flirted dangerously, knowing that she probably wouldn't have gotten away with that if she wasn't so damn cute.

Harper raised her eyebrows, knowing, even in her quirkiness, that two could play this game. She smiled and wrapped her arms around her waist, leading Alex to believe that she was reaching in for a simple embrace. Instead, the auburn-haired fashionista seamlessly snaked her hand downward and pinched Alex's ass – hard.

Harper laughed as Alex let out a surprised cry of pain. "Looks like you're not dreaming!" Harper said, mimicking Alex from before.

Alex shot Harper a look, but couldn't conceal her smile. "You're in trouble for that, Finkle," Alex chided playfully, calling Harper by her last name. "Just wait, I'll get you when you least expect it."

"Is it bad that I'm looking forward to that?" Harper smirked almost wickedly.

"_Holy crap, she's hot. How am I only realizing this now?_" Alex thought to herself, that one sentence encompassing their whole attraction to one another. It crept up on them fast and suddenly, at least the mutual part. Alex had always had random crushes on guys, but they felt more methodical and expected than anything completely genuine. And as far as Harper was concerned, Justin was the only crush she ever spoke of.

On that wavelength, Alex thought it was time to bring up the second in their set of relationship rules, their first being "no telling family" - just yet anyway - rule.

"Well, if you want there to be anything to look forward to, you need to stop flirting with Justin so much," Alex said jovially yet seriously all at once. It ate her alive inside that Harper was so crazy about Justin, and only now did she realize why exactly it did bother her so much.

Harper laughed once again, finding it cute that Alex was jealous even though she knew better not to tease her about it. "Flirting? All I've ever done is act obsessed and as unappealing as possible to make it seem like I like him without him actually going for it."

Alex was now only half-pouting, but still not entirely convinced. "Well, out of all the people to have a _pretend_ crush on, does it have to be my brother?"

"Well, if I can't come right out and say that I like you, shouldn't I at least pretend that I like _someone_ in the Russo family? That way I can have an excuse for having a star-struck smile on my face every time I'm at your house," Harper pulled off with striking poise.

"Okay, that was cute," the tough-exteriored Alex admitted, "Almost cute enough for me to feel better."

Harper gave Alex a sweet kiss on the forehead and an even sweeter kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "What would make you feel better? If I just laid off Justin altogether?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Well, it might look a little suspicious if all of a sudden you leave Justin alone completely, especially if you and I are spending a ton of time together," Alex thought, her biggest fear being her conservative and strict parents suspecting them, "But Justin's too nice to tell you he's not interested, so who knows how long you'll have to keep this up?"

An idea visibly hit Harper as her expression completely changed. "I think I might have an idea."

…InsertBandofStarsThatIndicatesTimePassageHere…

The next day, Alex was working at the sub station, holding what to the naked eye appeared to be a chubby, 8-month-old baby, in one arm. In reality, it was a de-winged cupid, who Alex was stuck with until she could get herself out of her latest mess. She had summoned him to make things right between her mom and dad, who got into another fight about magic, but Max broke his arrow, and Cupid refused to leave until he fulfilled his original purpose. Max and Justin were upstairs furiously trying to repair the broken arrow while Alex tried to blend a 20-pound baby into the ordinary surroundings.

Alex's stress level decreased a little when Harper walked through the front door of the sub station, brandishing a smile and what appeared to be a sweater.

"Hey, you," Alex said, trying to downplay her excitement and affection. "Is that a gift for me?" she asked, referring to the sweater.

Harper pulled the sweater closer to her and out of Alex's reach. "Uh, no, trust me," she then lowered her voice. "This might do the trick in getting Justin to tell me off once and for all."

Alex had a hard time suppressing the jealousy in her voice. "You're going to creep Justin out with a hand-made sweater? How horrible of you," she remarked sarcastically.

"Alex," Harper deadpanned, "It's a sweater made of my hair."

Alex couldn't hide the gag that rose in her throat as she thought of wearing something composed entirely of human hair, even if it was Harper's beautiful hair. "Oh, man!" she exclaimed.

"Yeahhh," Harper said. "Now, if you really want it, I can just give Justin something else."

"Justin's upstairs, he and Max are fixing Cupid's arrow," Alex stated, waving Harper in the other direction. Harper smiled happily and practically skipped in the other direction, so thrilled with herself that she actually came up with a surefire plan.

Moments later, when she saw the horrified look on Justin's face, she knew her plan had worked. She felt it coming when Justin stood up and walked to the center of the room with her, feeling the rejection speech leaving his mouth and knowing that she finally wouldn't have to pretend anymore once Justin finally told her off.

Suddenly, she heard an odd noise, kind of like a paper bag crumpling loudly, and noticed Justin stumble forward slightly. Instantly his eyes changed as if bitten by some kind of a love bug. Or, maybe…

To her left stood Max with a bow and an almost sick look on his face. It then occurred to both of them, making the connection to Cupid, what had just happened as Justin began regaling Harper with sonnet-like words of love and doe-eyed infatuation.

As quickly as that had happened, once again out of the corner of her left eye, Harper saw Alex, wearing a look of hurt, confusion, and most of all, anger. Without warning, she shoved baby Cupid into Harper's arms as she lunged at her brother, shoving him to the ground.

"Leave her alone!" she yelled, raising her fist.

Harper didn't want to speak too soon, but there was a possibility of rule #1 in their relationship rule book being broken sooner than either of them had anticipated.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. **

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, all! Sorry for the delay – I was playing hostess for a few days. Oh, the holiday season. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews thus far… if you like what you read, keep them coming!**

**CLARIFICATION: It was brought to my attention via a reader that Alex and Harper seemed to be attracted to each other so quickly and inexplicably that magic was likely involved. While I did purposefully keep it ambiguous as to how and when they got together, I meant to suggest that they were newly together, but had at least been flirting with the idea for awhile. Sorry for any confusion!**

Rule #3 - Always communicate with words, not anger or frustration.

Hmm. Looks like Alex needed to brush up on that rule, too.

Harper and Max's eyes met in identical desperation and bewilderment when they saw Alex, Justin's shirt collar clenched between her fingers, raise her other fist and follow through with a clean punch right into Justin's face.

Harper quickly looked to the spacious armchair as a safe spot for baby Cupid as she rushed to the ground and pulled Alex into an upright position as Max rushed to Justin's aid.

"Alex! Stop it!" Harper pleaded, "Come on, Baby, it's all right," Harper attempted at soothing Alex. She nervously looked around to see if anyone noticed, but luckily Max was too focused on Justin's bloody nose to have heard.

Harper pulled Alex close to her by her waist, not close enough for an embrace, but enough to lock eyes and try to talk Alex down non-verbally. Thankfully the two had been communicating through looks, glances, and touches for as long as they had been friends, and Harper was able to reassure Alex through signals that she needed to calm down.

"What was that for?!" Justin shouted from the floor. "You know I bruise easily! I'm like a peach!"

Max, who was still knelt down on the floor beside Justin, spoke up after pulling away his bloody shirt sleeve. "His nose won't stop bleeding! Mom and Dad are so going to kill you, Alex!"

Knowing that she needed to cover, Alex stepped toward her brothers. "Me? You're the one that shot Justin with Cupid's Arrow!"

"It was a mistake! What am I supposed to do?" Max countered back.

And then, one of her so-unbelievable-it-might-be-believable ideas hit Alex and she ran with it.

"Well, I was _trying _to fix the spell since… I heard… if you get the person who was hit with Cupid's Arrow in a bad enough emotional state, the spell will be broken," she fashioned. Harper looked at her incredulously, having a feeling she wasn't quite being honest, but played along.

"Well, did it work?" Harper asked.

As if on cue, the still love-struck Justin got to his feet and leaned in Harper's direction. "Care to nurse me back to health, mi amor?" Justin schmoozed foolishly.

Before Alex could get a word in, Max thankfully cut in. "Look, if Mom and Dad see Justin acting like this, they're going to know something's up. Harper, you get Justin out of here, Alex, you take Cupid and try to figure out how to break the spell, and I'll try to fix the arrow."

"No!" Alex cut in a little too quickly. "Harper and I will take Cupid and Justin can do the research. He's the smart one, anyway."

Justin, having no idea how much of a hole he was digging himself into in his mesmerized state, put his arm around Harper. "No one can separate me from my Juliet!"

"See?" Max pointed out, impressed that for once his plan was the best idea.

Alex clenched her fists tightly and let out a painstaking deep breath. "Fine, only _you're _doing the research and _I'm _fixing the arrow so that Cupid can shoot mom and then get out of here," she all but shouted to Max.

With a grandiose bow of sorts, Justin opened the door for Harper. "After you," he insisted.

Before leaving, Harper locked eyes with Alex and mouthed "Don't worry" to assure her that all would be fine.

But as the auburn-haired dynamo left the room with the eldest Russo, Alex felt deep inside that there was another rule coming along: the impulses of love – merged with the pangs of jealousy – can be a fateful combination.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. If I did, I'd know Selena Gomez, and we'd be married. But that's besides the point... ;)**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, hopefully you all won't mind that I took a few creative liberties as far as "the rules" of Cupid go as according to the original episode. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to keep writing this story, so hopefully that's okay! **

Rule # 4 -- As its nickname "the green monster" suggests, jealousy has been known to eat people alive. Alex Russo was not an exception.

She likely would have repaired Cupid's arrow much faster had her body and mind not been racked with envious wonderings all afternoon. The thought alone of her brother romancing her girlfriend somewhere was enough for the pieces of wooden arrow in her hands threaten to buckle and splinter even further, and it took her countless deep breaths and moments of concentration to finally get it done.

Max, who was supposed to be doing research, was nowhere to be found, so the young wizardress knew she would have to take matters into her own hands.

She opened the door to the lair where she had left Baby Cupid, repaired arrow in hand, and bent down to level with him.

"Okay, here's your stupid arrow, now I'm going to get my mom upstairs, you'll shoot her in the butt and all of this will be over," Alex barked.

"Not so fast," the snarky voice of Cupid resounded unexpectedly from the adorable baby's body, "Your mom will be seeing stars again, but just because I go away, the love spell on your brother doesn't. And I sense that's the problem you _really _want to fix."

Alex stopped in her tracks. "Wait a minute -- are you saying that Justin's going to obsess over Harper like this forever?"

"Forever? No. The love from my arrow is only temporary. It should wear off in a month, maybe two," Cupid said.

"Two months?! Wait a second -- if the love is only temporary, then shouldn't that be put out there when people hire you so that they know that it's just going to wear off?" Alex's was near-manic at this point, in disbelief at how screwed up things were.

"Whoa, whoa! First you're yelling at me for the spell lasting too long, now you're yelling at me for the spell not lasting long enough! Listen, the reason the love spell works is because in the one to two months that it lasts, the person who received the arrow will experience heightened romantic feelings so that when the spell wears off, they'll have remembered why they loved the other person so much, or created reasons altogether," Cupid explained.

The teenager felt the color drain from her face as she realized the major glitch in the plan. With her parents, she knew everything would turn out fine, but if the two-month duration of the spell could fabricate feelings of love, there was a good chance that Justin would end up having long-lasting feelings for Harper: and possibly the other way around, too.

"Okay, there needs to be a loophole or an exception or something, right?" Alex pleaded, but before another word could be said, Theresa, Alex's mother, walked into the lair.

"Alex, I need your help in the sub station, we're swamped and your father is nowhere to be found," she said.

"That's my cue!" Cupid chimed in, unexpectedly pulling back the string of his bow and shooting the arrow into Theresa's backside.

Before Alex could protest, Cupid vanished and Theresa pranced around the room like a love struck puppy, a clear testament to the success of Cupid's spell.

"You know what? We'll close early today! It will give me a chance to spend some time alone with your father to thank him for being my husband -- and for helping me bring you beautiful children into the world!" Theresa gushed, all but throwing her arms around Alex as she happily danced out of the room.

As if everyone in her life was instructed to overwhelm her all at once, Justin burst through the door to the lair, dragging an unenthusiastic Harper by the hand behind him.

"Alas, my Juliet, we have arrived!" Justin exhaled as he began another epic-ly stomach-churning love speech. "I am only beseeched to part with you by your request, otherwise I would stay by your side until day meets night and night meets day. But I reluctantly release you to the company of my sister until next we meet."

"All right, Justin. Later," Harper replied half-heartedly.

Justin, having no idea what think ice he was treading on, approached Alex, who was sitting, fists clenched beside her. "My sister, please take good care of my love while I'm gone."

If there was such a thing as blood boiling, Alex was certain hers was at this moment. "Justin, go." Alex spat out through gritted teeth.

Before Justin made his way to the door, he leaned down to Harper's eye level and puckered his lips, to which the quirky girl responded by pressing the back of her hand against his mouth to escape the infinitely more romantic gesture he was planning.

Surprisingly, Justin obliged and finally exited, but before Harper could breathe a sigh of relief, she was distracted by the frustrated outcry of Alex, who had now buried her face in her hands and was lingering somewhere between sobbing and yelling.

Harper knelt down on the floor in front of where of Alex sat, loosely gripping her wrists and stroking them with her thumbs in a comforting fashion.

"Alex, talk to me," Harper requested softly.

"I can't do this, Harper! I can't -- I don't have it in me! I can't even bear 2 hours, I don't know how the hell I'm going to deal with this for 2 months!" Alex cried out, near-hyperventilation.

"2 months? What are you talking about? And what can't you do anymore?" Harper asked confusedly.

"Cupid said that the love spell could take up to 2 months to wear off, and that by then Justin will probably have fallen in love with you for real! If that happened, I would die," Alex lamented.

Harper, semi-relieved, smiled reassuringly. "Whoa, Hun, calm down. You said _probably_, and besides, that doesn't mean that I'll fall in love with him."

"Yeah, but who says you won't? If I lost you to my brother, I honestly don't think I could deal, like, at all," Alex said, near her wits end.

Harper paused, feeling a bit unsettled by the words exchanged. "Who says I won't? I say I won't, don't you trust me?"

Alex looked up and responded with a truthful, albeit cliché, expression. "I do trust, you, Harper, it's Justin I don't trust. He and I have always had it in for each other, and this would be the worst way he could get one up on me."

But Harper wasn't quite convinced. "So, wait, is this about your feelings for me or your competition with Justin?"

_No way. Don't tell me this is going wrong now, too_, Alex thought, realizing that nothing that she meant to say was coming across in the right way. "It's not about Justin, Harper, I swear."

"You just said that Justin was the one that you didn't trust, which at the end of the day shouldn't really matter as long as you trust me, because nothing will happen unless I say so, which it won't," Harper insisted.

"Look, I don't know what else to say! If anyone is going to be romantic with you, it should be me, not the guy you've at the very least _pretended_ to have a crush on forever, much less my brother!" Alex digressed before she gave a second thought to how it would sound aloud.

Harper stood from her kneeling position and went for her bag. "Okay, you know what? It's obvious that you don't trust me enough for us to come to an actual solution, so I'm just going to go."

"Harper, please don't go...." Alex begged, following Harper to the door.

"Alex, you really need to let me go right now," Harper assured Alex with misty eyes before exiting the lair.

On the verge of complete breakdown, Alex cried out, throwing the ottoman nearly across the room before surrendering to her tears.

_Okay, a spell should be able to fix this, it has to... _Alex thought to herself, grabbing the nearest magic book and flipping to the index. The closest thing she found for love reparation was to order Cupid....

...because it worked out so well the first time she did that.

**::taps microphone:: Is this thing on? OH HEY! No, this story is NOT dead! Stay tuned for more, and PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. If I did, it'd go a little something like this...**

Rule # 5 -- Although decades old, Murphy's law ("anything that can go wrong will go wrong") is as relevant now as ever before.

When Harper left the lair and through the lobby of the closed sub station, she was cut off at the pass by Justin, who called his recently reconciled parents in to announce the news of his and Harper's "romance." Having no choice but to just go along with things, the already flustered girl forced a smile and nodded. Justin proceeded to announce that they should invite Harper to dinner the next night to commemorate their new relationship, and Harper had no option but to agree.

Theresa and Jerry were both a little surprised, but were caught up in their own rekindled love to be basically oblivious, and unknowingly paved the way for Harper and Alex to be even more miserable.

Alex felt an odd and painful combination of time moving far too quickly and far too slowly all at once. Typically the least desired moments arrive at unparalleled speed, as was the case for the dreaded dinner party, yet mere minutes in someone special's absence can pass like long, hard days. Each minute leading up to the unwelcome dinner painfully dragged as Alex contemplated her seemingly unfixable situation. She was trying to give Harper the space she needed, but the ambivalence was tearing her apart, and she was in desperate need for resolve.

On the way downstairs to the dinner table, Alex ran into Max, who dramatically lowered his voice and came in close. "I couldn't find any cure for the C-u-p-i-d s-p-e-l-l."

"Max... why are you spelling things out?" Alex asked, annoyed.

"Because Mom and Dad don't know what we did and it could ruin everything if they found out," he said, even more conspicuously.

"Well, it's a good thing they can't spell then," Alex remarked sarcastically, reaching the bottom of the stairs and making the painstaking trudge toward the table.

Suddenly, all attention turned to the front door of the apartment when Justin and Harper walked in together. Harper told her "boyfriend" more than once that she was plenty capable of coming over on her own, but Justin of course insisted he walk her. His sweatshirt was draped over her shoulders, regardless of the fact that she assured him she was too hot to wear it, and Alex had to refrain herself from smacking the stupid smile off his face.

Mr. and Mrs. Russo, having digested the news a little more, had started to think that Justin and Harper being a couple was more unusual than they had before, but they didn't jump to the conclusion that a spell had been used, thankfully for Alex and Max. More than ever, though, the tension between Harper and Alex was utterly palpable. They both felt hurt and betrayed by things the other did, and for the first time in their more-than-a-decade-long friendship, the two could barely maintain eye contact.

If one person could encompass the opposite of subtlety, it would have been Justin. Aside from pulling Harper's chair out for her to sit down, he served her, cut her food, and put her napkin on her lap. Alex's eyes would have burned a hole through her brother if possible, and it made it even worse that Harper didn't appear to be as disgusted as she was. She told herself that Harper was just acting, but she honestly couldn't be sure.

Curious to see where this impromptu relationship spurned from, Theresa asked, "So... how did this happen?"

Before Harper could come up with a believable story, Justin, of course, cut in. "I finally realized what a fool I have been for denying such a worthy goddess of my requited affections."

Justin's ostentatious answer made things only more uncomfortable, and Jerry responded the only way he knew how.

"Oh... that's... nice?" he remarked before the room fell to another awkward silence.

Alex could have sworn that Justin couldn't let a full two minutes pass at a time without doing something obnoxious to dote on Harper. He would ask how her food was or pay her some generic compliment, each time pushing Alex closer to her breaking point. But what really pushed the envelope was when Harper reached for her napkin to dab away a morsel of steak sauce that rested on the corner of her lip, for Justin to reach out his hand to stop her.

"Allow me," he creepily flirted, leaning in to "kiss away" the food remnants.

One way or another, Alex had to stop this, and she picked the route that she figured was the lesser of two evils. "Dad, you need to put a stop to this right now!"

Max nervously tried to cover, shooting Alex a look that urged her not to blow this now. "Uh, yeah, Dad, seriously, there should be no kissing allowed at the dinner table if we're expected to keep it down."

"Max, stop playing dumb," Alex chided him, willing to take whatever punishment would occur to put this to a stop. "Okay, look, I ordered Cupid to help you and mom get back together, but instead, Max accidentally shot Justin when Harper was in the room and we can't figure out a way to break the spell."

"Alex, don't be silly! I don't need a spell to be in love with your father -- he's already everything I've ever wanted!" Theresa swooned.

_Damn_, Alex cursed internally. The spell was stronger than she thought.

"You did - why - summoned - Cupid - ALEX!" Jerry yelled, flustered as usual. "I should have known you had something to do with all of this! There are certain things that shouldn't be meddled with, and matters of the heart are a perfect example!"

"Look, Dad, I realize now that I made a huge mistake and should have never tried to interfere with anyone's personal lives. So, please, help me find a way to reverse this and I promise I'll never do magic without asking you first ever again." _Whoa. That's a big promise_, Alex thought as soon as the words left her lips, but instead of taking it back, she stood her ground, knowing it was worth it to (hopefully) restore everything back to normal again.

Jerry paused, not seeming too impressed. "You know what? No," he stated firmly.

"What? What do you mean, "no"?" Alex interrogated.

"You used magic without considering any consequences, so now you have to ride them out until this spell wears off, no matter how uncomfortable it may be," Jerry answered.

To make matters infinitely worse, Justin leaned across the table to speak to Alex. "That's right, Alex," he said pretentiously, "and whatever childish plan you have to break up me and my one true love will not work!"

Alex had enough. She threw down her silverware, stood from her chair, and stood inches above Justin as she yelled in his direction. "This is just so unfair! You love Harper because you're under some stupid spell. I love her because I notice and appreciate all the little things that make her amazing. The look in her eyes when she invents something new and the way she sees things, how she can turn something everyone else sees as junk into something totally cool, and how she's the most gorgeous person alive when she smiles. You don't see any of those things, I can tell! So, why should _you _be the one who gets to be with her?"

The room fell to a complete stand still, but only momentarily, as Justin suddenly convulsed for a few seconds before blinking furiously, seemingly unaware of anything that just happened.

He jerked his chair away from the dinner table, not quite remembering how he got there, and rightfully aware of the fact that something unusual was taking place.

"What are we --" he paused, seeing Harper in close proximity beside him, "Is that my sweatshirt? How did you --? Why are we --? _What _is going on here?!"

"I was just about to ask the same thing," Theresa remarked, looking between Alex and Harper.

The young, female wizard sighed deeply. "Yeah, about that. Mom, Dad, we need to talk."

**OoOoOoOoH... what happened?! Or better yet, what's GOING to happen? I guess you'll just have to keep reading and find out! Oh, and.. review? Please? It keeps me going after a long day of work to know that I have people to keep going for :-p**


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. If I did, it would go a little something like this...**

Rule # 6 -- Love conquers all. That is, unless other people do everything they can to stop it.

"Oh -- so _that's _what 'oppositional love' must mean!" Max exclaimed, shattering the silence and confusing everyone further.

For once, Max butting in with a clueless interjection served a purpose: it gave Alex more time to think of how exactly she was going to explain that she was dating her female best friend.

"Max, is this relevant?" Jerry asked impatiently.

"Well, yeah! When Alex had me do research on Cupid to see if we could break the spell, the only thing I found was something about oppositional love, if it was strong enough, being the only thing that could break the love spell, but I didn't know what that meant, so I just ignored it."

Alex's eyes slanted immediately and pointedly at Max. "You didn't think that was important enough to share?"

"Hey, I didn't volunteer to do the research, don't get mad at me!" the youngest Russo exclaimed, hands in the air.

"All right, enough of this," Theresa interrupted. "Alex, what is going on between you and Harper?"

Alex took the deepest breath she had possibly ever taken, straight from the soles of her feet. "We've been dating," she managed cautiously. "For about 3 months now."

"D - dating? Like - like boy/girl dating?" Jerry asked for _far _lack of better phrasing.

"Boy/girl dating, what is this, the 50's?" Alex asked, frustrated.

"Alex, you know what I meant, and watch your tone. You're the one who's been hiding things from us," Jerry replied.

Alex bit her tongue, trying her best to behave and make things as minimally difficult as possible. "I know, I'm sorry, but the way you guys are reacting now makes me feel like I was right in trying to keep it from you."

"Well, didn't you think it was important to discuss with us?" Theresa asked.

_'No, what's there to discuss?' _was the original thought that popped into Alex's mind, but by her mother's stern tone, she ventured that it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. "I didn't think -" she began.

"I mean you two have been together unsupervised in the past 3 months plenty of times with your father and I none the wiser. That's not really fair to us," Theresa interrupted.

Alex's "good girl" resolve was wearing, and as much as she wanted to keep replying in her typical fashion, she knew that she was in no position to argue, especially if she wanted to salvage _anything _from these past few days. "We haven't been doing anything..." she paused and choked on the word a little, "inappropriate, I swear."

"But we have no way of knowing that, Alex," Theresa continued. "Any boys you've dated in the past, your father and I have wanted to meet them and set limitations. This is no different."

This time, Alex's teeth couldn't stop the response that was hot on the tip of her tongue. "You _have _met Harper, you've known her almost as long as you've known me and you said more than once that she's part of the family. And you've let me go off 'unsupervised' with Riley and Dean plenty of times, so yes, this is different, and I think I know why."

The resulting silence was flagrant, no one knowing what to say for several seconds that felt like much longer moments.

"I think it'd be best if you two spent some time apart until we can all discuss this and make a decision as a family," Jerry finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen."

All eyes fell on Harper, who spoke up for the first time the entire conversation.

Trying not too get too hostile too quickly, Theresa fumbled over her words. "Uh, Harper, listen -"

"No, Mr. and Mrs. Russo, I'm sorry, but I'm not backing down on this one. You guys are always telling Alex that she needs to be more passionate, that she needs to be more caring and kind and observant. Everything she just said proves that she is all of those things -- even more than that, her passion and her kindness were strong enough to break a spell! And I can't believe how lucky I am to be one of those people she's passionate about and I can't let you take that away."

After the words left her lips, Harper glanced across the table to see the windows to Alex's soul misted over as she fought to conceal her tears of happiness before they gave themselves up.

Instead of taking the time to digest what had just been said, Jerry instead reacted in anger. "Alex is our daughter, and we are going to do what's best for her. You really need to leave now."

Harper dejectedly stood from the dinner table and walked around to the other side of the table where Alex sat, stopping there before making her way toward the door. "Thank you," she whispered, placing a soft kiss on Alex's lips despite her parents' clear contempt.

Before Harper could walk away completely, Alex grabbed her hand and held her in place. "Harper, wait. If you're going anywhere, I'm going with."

"Alex -" Jerry warned.

In reply, the young wizard fashioned one of the improv spells designed to get her out of a bind. "_Mom and Dad don't want us near, so take us anywhere but here!"_

With that, Alex and Harper were gone and Theresa and Jerry were a mix between furious and frantic.

Jerry had taught his daughter well.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay, an update! Eternal thanks to anyone still reading for being so patient -- I've been working a lot of 10-hour days and by the time I get home, I barely have time and energy for the things I _need _to do let alone for anything leisurely. I hope you liked it though and that you stay tuned -- and review? That'd be awesome :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. If I did, however, it'd go a little something like this...**

**WARNING: Although I would not say that this chapter includes _strong _sexual content, there is some sexual build-up/sexual inferences, and if that possibility makes you uncomfortable, you may not want to read on. Also, for those of you who do read on, if you feel that the content merits an upgraded rating of "M", please let me know and I will promptly change it. Thanks!  
**

Rule #7 -- It's been said that it's calm inside the eye of the storm; now if they could only find it...

Alex couldn't help but laugh out loud when she realized where the spell had taken them -- her bedroom. Part of it was a comical element, and part of it was relief, since she realized in the aftermath that the "anywhere but here" part of her spell could have ended up screwing them over big time.

"Well, the spell did what it was supposed to! I actually think this is more genius -- my Dad would never think to look here!" Alex beamed.

The smile disappeared from Alex's face when Harper seized her face passionately and kissed her, swallowing the gasp that tried to escape Alex's full lips. Harper's hands moved from Alex's face down to her lower back and finally finding a home by resting firmly on her ass, using the leverage to pull Alex as close to her body as possible. Alex dizzily tried to keep up with the urgent aggressiveness of Harper's touch, and when the porcelain-skinned beauty left a searing trail from her lips down to her neck, Alex couldn't help but express her arousal in an involuntary utterance that pierced the air and dropped both of the girls' hearts into their stomachs.

The two reluctantly broke the contact to catch their breath, chests heaving heavily as they pressed their noses together in a tender Eskimo kiss.

"What you said about me down there... everything about my creations and my style and my smile," Harper said with a blush, "I've never felt so special and beautiful in my entire life."

Alex's eyes softened as she gave Harper's nose another nuzzle. "Well, what about you? Standing up to my parents like that and defending me. Sometimes I think you're the only one who gets who I really am."

"Well, I _know _that you're the one person who understands me. More than understands me..." Harper's voice trailed off, indicating there was something she wanted to say, but was hesitant.

"Loves you?" Alex prodded gently, "Because, yeah, I do."

Harper's mouth gave way to an indisputable smile. "I love you, too. So much."

Harper held tight to Alex once again, backing up and pulling her girlfriend on top of her on the bed as their tongues continued to wrestle each other for dominance. Harper warily let her hands find their way under the back of Alex's shirt, resting on the small of her lower back and creating deft, soothing circles and marveling at the goose bumps caused by her touch. Every touch, every kiss, everything felt like a culmination of the emotional roller coaster that was the past few days, and how they had come out of it stronger than before.

Their bodies seemingly on fire, Alex barely had the wherewithal to control herself when she danced her fingertips down the front of Harper's pants, feeling an unparalleled euphoria when she discovered the dampness she found there and the sharp gasp that followed. Suddenly, their kisses became slower and messier, trying to coordinate two completely different out-of-control breathing patterns, and before Alex's hand went any further, Harper gently held her arm in place.

"Alex, maybe we should -"

"Wait?" Alex answered.

"Yeah," Harper exhaled, lovingly wrapping a hand around the back of Alex's neck. "I really, really want this... I think you can tell that I want this... but with everything that's going on it would feel -"

"Weird, yeah, I know," Alex once again finished her best friend's sentence before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on Harper's lips. "It's okay, we can wait."

"Thank you," Harper whispered before pulling Alex from on top of her to the space in bed right next to her. Alex laid her head on Harper's chest while Harper ran her fingers through the other girl's hair.

They sat in silence for several moments. The air was comforting, yet filled with an obvious void that suggested to each girl that her other half was having the same thoughts that she was.

"I'm sorry," Harper whispered.

Alex's eyes trailed upward to meet Harper's. "Sorry? For what?"

"Well, if I hadn't agreed to go to dinner as Justin's date, this probably wouldn't have happened," Harper replied. "It was like your parents weren't even your parents anymore."

Although Alex had recently made a habit of not holding things back with Harper, she gritted her teeth and sharply, yet quietly, inhaled as to not let any tears even threaten to fall. She, of course, was also bothered by how her parents reacted, and as much as she knew she would never change for them, it still hurt her more than she liked to admit.

"Harper, you can't blame yourself for any of this. The only thing you and I are doing 'wrong' is being ourselves, and if it hadn't come out tonight, it would have only been a matter of time," Alex said, taking hold of the hand that draped over her shoulder and giving it a reassuring kiss.

"It's just... funny to me. I mean, not funny like 'ha ha' but funny like strange, that something that really doesn't hurt anyone at all can make such a difference to certain people."

Alex scooted up so that she was face to face with Harper, nuzzling her nose up the side of her neck and whispering into her ear. "Babe," she began, "it is going to be okay," she said, giving each word its own poignancy. "I'm not sure how, but we don't have to think about that right now."

Harper breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah. You're right. Do you think we could just stay like this -- like the two of us -- forever?"

As if on cue, Jerry and Justin appeared in the room, apparently having recreated the spell that Alex had performed earlier.

"ALEX!" Jerry's voice resonated.

"I guess not," Alex answered under her breath.

**Hey, my loves! Thank you again so much for your continued support of and patience with this story. Hope this was worth the wait! As usual, please let me know via review, and hopefully I'll get the next chapter along soon! XOXO, Laura**


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